Director of Tun Tavern Fellowship
Meet Mike West
Greetings from the Crossroads of the Marine Corps here at Quantico. I’m Mike West, USMC(Ret), and since 2014 it has been my privilege to serve as the second Director of Tun Tavern Fellowship.
Like many of you, I can look back and see how God used the Marine Corps, my family, coaches, and mentors to deepen my faith and ignite my heart for discipleship.
Over the years, I’ve walked with Marines, sailors, and their families through the highs and lows of service life.
I believe now more than ever that we are stronger when we ‘stand firm’ and grow up into fruit-bearing maturity in Christ, together. My deepest joy is seeing Marines and their families discover hope and purpose in Him.
Serving the Marine corps
Marines and the chaplains who serve them face unique challenges—frequent moves, high operational demands, long deployments, and the constant strain on marriages and families.
Through every transition, Marines and their families need more than resilience; they need a living hope anchored in Christ.
That’s why Tun Tavern Fellowship exists:
- To connect Marines and families with life-giving community.
- To encourage spiritual strength in the face of real-world pressures.
- To equip leaders to mentor professionally and disciple spiritually where they serve.
Tun tavern fellowship is my calling
This isn’t just a program—it’s a movement of faith, obedience, and service spreading
across the Marine Corps as the Holy Spirit might be pleased to lead.
My Journey of Faith and Service
I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior as a boy through my mother’s faithful witness. My faith grew through family discipleship, church involvement, and the encouragement of ministries like Young Life and Officers’ Christian Fellowship (OCF) at Penn State. In those years I discovered the value of fellowship—gathering with believers, being sharpened by mentors, and challenged to grow. After commissioning as a Marine officer in 1985, I served through seven deployments over twenty-two years, learning that Marines and their families need more than resilience; they need community, hope, and discipleship to thrive spiritually as well as professionally.
Called to Lead Tun Tavern Fellowship
In 2006, I joined the early core of leaders God was raising up to launch Tun Tavern Fellowship as a ministry outgrowth of Officers’ Christian Fellowship with an exclusive focus on Marines of all ranks. From the beginning, our vision has been simple yet powerful:
An all-ranks network of Christ-following Marines and chaplains, active and retired, who glorify Jesus Christ in and out of uniform as His ambassadors. We intentionally identify, connect, encourage, equip Marines to know the Lord Jesus, and train them to obey His Word. Our enduring requirement envisions cultivating continuous fellowship and personal revival leading to fruit bearing maturity, spiritual reproduction and warfare resilience in each Marine, their unit, their families, and throughout their professional career.
In 2014, I was invited to serve as the Director, following in the footsteps of TTF’s founding leader, Chris Braddy. Since then, I’ve been humbled to see God at work—growing a network of leaders and supporting families, and helping Marines discover how their faith integrates with their calling. This ministry seeks to build and maintain relationships across the years of multiple duty stations, challenges and adventures where God uses iron-on-iron encouragement and equipping across the years of a career to produce His good fruit.
Today, TTF continues to expand its augmenting support of local churches, chapels, commanders and chaplains by identifying, connecting, encouraging and equipping Marines through a growing set of bible study and smaller discipleship group opportunities around the Marine Corps. We see these bible studies (equipping to know Christ) and discipleship groups (training to obey) as key elements of our Lord’s Great Commission.
My invitation to you
Whether you’re a Marine, a family member, a supporter, or simply exploring how faith intersects with the expeditionary Marine Corps life, you’re welcome here. There’s a place for you in this story.
My prayer is that Tun Tavern Fellowship would continue to be a place where Marines encounter Christ, grow in their faith, and become lights in their units and communities —wherever the Lord sends them.
If you’d like to:
- Find a local group or get connected with a leader
- Partner with us in prayer or giving
- Learn more about our mission
We’d be honored to walk with you.
TTF Ministry Overview
CBN Special Edition on TTF
